His successors enlarge the empire, his grandson Batu Khan subdues and sacks the Russian principalities in the north by massacring half of the population and ravages the east of Europe up to the Adriatic ; Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians, Croats are sprayed.
The Mongol Empire was split into quarters on 1260 and the western part became the Golden Horde (in yellow on the map) with Saray for capital city, near present-day Volgograd.
At the beginning of the 14th century, Özbeg, Khan of the golden horde, converted to Islam, resulting in a major divorce between the conquered population, Slavic and Christian, and the ruling minority, Muslim and Turkish-Mongolian. Here is a Dirham countermarked "Khan" in case there is any doubt about his title ...
The revolt rumbles in the Russian vassal principalities which refuse to pay their tribute, the war resumes with the fire of Moscow in 1382 then the Timuride disaster on 1395. Historians often refer to the "Timurid catastrophe" so much destruction and massacres committed by Tamerlan were spectacular; estimates of the death toll from his military campaigns go up to 17 million people (about 5% of the world population at the time). During his conquests, he did not hesitate to massacre the entire population of towns which had resisted him.
The territory of the Golden Horde began to split up on 1430, with the creation of the Crimean Khanate between the mouths of the Dniester and the Dnieper.
On 1480, Ivan III, Prince of Moscow,
joins forces with the Crimean khan Mengli Giray
Ivan III the Great frees Moscow from the Mongol yoke and begins the unification of Russia.
His grandson, Ivan IV Vassilievitch, known as Ivan the Terrible, became the first Tsar of Russia on 1547. The black legend of the Tsar spreads, archetype of the tyrannical and cruel despot. In addition, the nickname Ivan the Terrible which spread in the 18th century is a poor translation from Russian "Grozny" which simply means "tremendous". On 1581, Ivan the Terrible caused the death of his eldest son Ivan Ivanovich by striking him fatally with his scepter, while the latter intervened to protect the child carried by his third wife, attacked by the tsar. The episode is illustrated by several paintings.
On 1598 his son Fedor died without descendant, it was the end of the Riourikides dynasty which reigned over the Rus' of Kiev and then Muscovy from 862 to 1598.
Then comes Boris Godunov, the former chamberlain of Ivan IV who inaugurates a new dynasty
Followed on 1606 by the Shuysky dynasty with Vassili IV Shuisky
And finally that of the Romanovs with Mikhail I on 1613.
Then his successors minting coin with the effigy of St George killing a dragon, until Peter the Great who reformed this feudal coinage to modernize Russia and make it a leading European power, and it's a whole other world of currencies ...
Thanks to Grinya for this long journey in the history and geography through these immense steppes on the borders of Asia and Europe.
With still some questions: why the hell Ekaterina II, in addition to her reform of paper money, did she issue coins for Siberia
Here is the end of episode 1.
Episode 2 could be titled: "No longer sort your Soviet coins by face value but by ribbons (or as we say on Numista: by orbits, yes indeed there is a difference ...)"
Well, it's still a bit long for a title
